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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Tuesday's Trees- Willow Oak

When we first moved to this area I had a little knowledge of trees. (who am I kidding? I had none!!) A tree that is prevalent in our area has narrow leaves, is an oak, and is incorrectly called a Pin Oak. I suppose the name has stuck because of the 'pin' shape of the leaf. The leaf of the Willow Oak, Quercus phellos, is a narrow blade approximately 2 to 5 inches in length. It is very similar to the willow tree's leaf. The dark green leaf turns yellow-brown in the fall. It is not a very showy autumn color. The underside is smooth and light green. The margins are smooth.

The Willow Oak is a straight and tall tree in the landscape. At maturity it can be upwards of 80- 100 feet tall. It has a spreading growth pattern with upward growing scaffolding maturing to a rounded crown. Notice the limbs in both of the photos of the entire tree.

The acorns are small, round with caps that cover about 1/4 of the nut. This picture was tough to get as the acorns were up in the tree...so not the clearest photo, I apologize.

The bark is gray and smooth when the tree is young and developes ridges as it ages.

This tree was trimmed to be away from the utility lines. Since the front half of the limbs are trimmed you can see the vase shaped growth of the limbs.

21 comments:

Hi Janet, thanks for showcasing this hard working tree. It is planted frequently here because of its lack of problems with pests and disease, fast growth for an oak and drought tolerance. I love the leave shape too. If one wants a nice shade tree with leaves that will not be a problem to rake, this is the one. Used extensively in new subdivisions.Frances

I may have one of these. I need to get into my tree identification book better. If it is not this then it is similar but I love it because the leaves hang on nearly all winter.

We were looking for those 'berries' when I did identify a tree I have that has other berries-a black tupelo. It is cool. I look forward to the linden tree. A friend of mine has one in her yard. They are not real common here but just this year Rural King had them for sale.

I push this tree at the nursery because of its ease of growth and sturdy utilitarian character. You may not get there often, but in southern Va. Beach (old Princess Anne Co.) there are massive specimens around the old farm houses. I also like how they have been used at ODU over the years.

I remember having to rake the leaves of this tree when I was a kid. I hated it. They are many and hard to gather in a pile. You have to rake forever.

Then my dad would burn them and add the ashes to our garden. I guess the ashes are very alkaline and it helped the acidic soil. But these leaves are leathery and if left to compost could take years. So he burned them and we roasted marshmallows--that was the reward.

I've never noticed this tree before, I wonder if we have them around here and I just wasn't looking. I love the ridges of the bark, such great texture. Thanks for the ongoing tree education! Keep it coming.

With its different leaves, I never would have guessed this was a type of oak. I've learned that identifying trees is not as simple as I once thought when I started trying to identify all the trees around my house. You're doing a great job of helping to educate me, Janet!

I'd never heard of this type of tree either. I always thought oaks all had the same type of leaves. We have no oaks in our yard but anytime we see one my daughters collect lots of the acorns to play with.

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